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Sunday, August 25, 2013

Orthodoxy and Doxology

Orthodoxy is both right praise and right teaching. Orthodox understanding of, and adoration of, the Blessed Trinity is the most critical component of our unity in Christ.

St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (1:12) reminds us that in Christ, those who “first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of {Christ’s} glory.” The Fathers of Vatican II, in Sacrosanctum Concilium, used this passage in their summary of the worship inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Church’s celebration of the paschal mystery (art. 6). When the Fathers called the sacred liturgy “the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed,” they recapitulated that worship as the baptized faithful “{coming} together to praise God in the midst of his Church, to take part in the sacrifice, and to eat the Lord’s supper.” This is right worship as intended by Christ and the Apostles. The word literally translated “right worship” is orthodoxy.

This word has acquired, over the centuries, multiple extended meanings. The best known use is by those churches which have maintained valid orders, but are not in communion with the Holy Father. These are called “Orthodox churches.” They have valid sacraments and so continue the “right praise” of the early Church. By and large, their teachings are in conformity with those of the Roman Church.

The other important meaning of “orthodoxy” is “right doctrine.” This may actually be a more common understanding than the literal one. But right doctrine and right worship are intimately connected. The bishops of the United States stated as much in the reflection for Catechetical Sunday in 2009. In an article authored by Fr. Rick Hilgartner, they wrote: “The original version of the phrase, ‘ut legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi’ (‘that the law of praying establishes the law of believing’), highlighted the understanding that the Church’s teaching (lex credendi) is articulated and made manifest in the celebration of the liturgy and prayer (lex orandi).We understand this to mean that prayer and worship is the first articulation of the faith. The liturgy engages belief in a way that simply thinking about God, or studying the faith, does not naturally do. In other words, in an act of worship, the faithful are in dialogue with God, and are engaged in an active and personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and every individual member of the liturgical assembly is connected to one another as members of the mystical Body of Christ in the Holy Spirit, as they look together with hope for the salvation promised in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Now the fundamental doctrine, or central mystery (TheCatechism of the Catholic Church§234) of the Catholic faith, is the teaching on the Blessed Trinity.